Mystery
HEAVEN'S PRISONERS.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1988]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. The second Robicheaux novel.
SWEET DREAMS, IRENE.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. The second Irene Kelly mystery.
EAST OF MANSION HOUSE.
London, Toronto, Melbourne and Sydney: Cassell and Company, Ltd., [1928]. Octavo, cloth. First U.K. edition. A collection of twelve stories.
EAST OF MANSION HOUSE.
New York: George H. Doran Company, [1926]. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v [vi] [7-8] 9-270 [271-272: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], original pictorial red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black. First edition. Published later in Britain in 1928 by Cassell and Company. Burke's third collection of Limehouse stories. A collection of twelve horror and crime stories including two supernatural tales, "White Wings" and "The Tablets of the House of Li." This edition includes "Black Country," a grotesque auto-erotic suicide tale,"replaced with "Uncle Reuben" in the British edition published by Cassell in 1928. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p. 46. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 120. Bleiler (1948), p. 66. Hubin (1994), p. 119.
MORE LIMEHOUSE NIGHTS.
New York: George H. Doran Company, [1921]. Octavo, pp. [1-2] [i-vi] vii-viii [ix-x] 11-282 [283-286: blank] [note: first and last two leaves are blanks], original pictorial orange cloth, front panel stamped in red and black, spine panel stamped in black. First U. S. edition. Published earlier in Britain as WHISPERING WINDOWS: TALES OF THE WATERSIDE (1921). Burke's second collection of Limehouse stories, sequel to LIMEHOUSE NIGHTS (1916). Includes one supernatural tale, "The Scarlet Shoes." Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p. 46. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 120. Bleiler (1948), p. 66. Hubin (1994), p. 119. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 15.
NIGHT-PIECES: EIGHTEEN TALES ...
London: Constable & Co Limited, [1935]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-311 [312], original red cloth, spine stamped in black. First edition. Collection of eighteen weird and criminous stories set in shadowy London. Burke's core collection of horror stories, distinctive for their original treatments of familiar themes. Best include doppelganger story "Johnson Looked Back" and zombie story "The Hollow Man." "Excellent stories." - Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 309. Ashley, Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, p. 15. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-41. Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 4-50. Wilson, Shadows in the Attic, p. 121. Bleiler (1978), p. 35. Reginald 02238. Hubin (1994), p. 119. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 15.
THE PLEASANTRIES OF OLD QUONG.
London: Constable & Co, Ltd., [1931]. Octavo, orange cloth, spine stamped in blue. First edition. "A series of horror, crime and supernatural tales mostly set in London's Chinatown..." - Wilson, Shadows in the Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction, 1820-1950, p. 120. An important Burke collection which contains a story of which Ellery Queen in Queen's Quorum (p. 66) writes "the author's detective masterpiece, The Hands of Mr. Ottermole. This short story, the last word in the evocation of atmosphere and terror on the printed page...". (This collection was published in the U.S. as A Tea Shop in Limehouse).
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. Octavo, boards. First edition. "Equalling his best, Little Caesar, High Sierra, this is a sustained and relentless story of the planning and execution of a foolproof crime, the robbery of a jewelry store in a middle western city...And from the first premonitions to the first wrong moves, this follows through the aftermath of the crime, the dragnet and the chase which ended in death or capture... In its accuracy, its intensity, this is pretty hard to beat." - Kirkus review, 22 August, 1949. Basis for the classic film noir with Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe, directed by John Huston. Hubin, pp. 119-120. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 17. Silver and Ward (eds.), Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd edition), pp. 13-15. Johnson, The Dark Page II, p. 18.
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. Octavo, boards. First edition. "Equaling his best, Little Caesar, High Sierra, this is a sustained and relentless story of the planning and execution of a foolproof crime, the robbery of a jewelry store in a middle western city...And from the first premonitions to the first wrong moves, this follows through the aftermath of the crime, the dragnet and the chase which ended in death or capture... In its accuracy, its intensity, this is pretty hard to beat." - Kirkus review, 22 August, 1949. Basis for the classic film noir with Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe, directed by John Huston. Hubin, pp. 119-120. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 17. Silver and Ward (eds.), Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd edition), pp. 13-15. Johnson, The Dark Page II, p. 18.
CONANT.
New York: Popular Publications, [1961]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Popular Library #G538. Paperback original. Crime novel.
CONANT.
New York: Popular Publications, [1961]. Small octavo, cover by Barye Phillips, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Popular Library #G538. Paperback original. Crime novel. Hubin, p. 120.
THE COOL MAN.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc., [1968]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Gold Medal d1890. Paperback original. Crime novel.
THE COOL MAN.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc., [1968]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Gold Medal d1890. Paperback original. Crime novel. Hubin, p. 120.
GOOD-BYE CHICAGO: 1928: END OF AN ERA.
New York: St. Martin's Press, [1981]. Octavo, boards. First edition. The author's final novel. Period crime novel. Hubin, pp. 119-120.
HIGH SIERRA.
New York [and] London: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-292 [293: blank] [294: printer's information] [295-296: blank], original dark orange cloth, front, spine and rear stamped in gray, top edge stained red, fore edge uncut, bottom edge rough cut. First edition. Signed inscription by Burnett on the verso of the half title page: "For / Jean / sincere best / W R Burnett." This classic novel is "...in effect, the biography of Roy Earle, a fictional creation who reflects the lives of several eminent American outlaws of the 1920s and 1930s...Far from the myths created by J. Edgar Hoover's biased attitude toward the criminals of the 1930s, Burnett gives us a sad, sometimes surreal look at a true outlaw." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 100-101. Filmed in 1941 by Raoul Walsh from a screenplay by Burnett and John Huston, starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart. Filmed as a Western in 1949, Colorado Territory and again in 1955 with Jack Palance as Roy Earle asI Died A Thousand Times. Hubin, pp. 119-120.
LITTLE MEN, BIG WORLD.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Crime and corruption in a Midwestern city. The second volume in what some consider his "urban trilogy" about the slow decline and decay of the American city, preceded by THE ASPHALT JUNGLE and followed by VANITY ROW. While not made into a feature film is was a television production on the anthology series Studio One. Hubin, p. 120.
ROUND THE CLOCK AT VOLARI'S.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc., [1961]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Gold Medal #s1145. Paperback original. Crime novel.
ROUND THE CLOCK AT VOLARI'S.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc., [1961]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Gold Medal #s1145. Paperback original. Crime novel. Hubin, p. 120.
THE SILVER EAGLE.
New York: Lincoln MacVeagh, The Dial Press, [1931]. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-310 [311-12: blank], jacket art by John Gram, original cross hatched black cloth, front stamped in blind, spine stamped in silver. First edition. Burnett writes more about the Chicago of Little Caesar, this novel deals with racketeers and one who wants to achieve a higher social standing. An uncommon book in a dust jacket which features striking cover art. Hubin, pp. 119-120.
UNDERDOG.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Involves a political boss and murder. The "patsy" framed for murder seeks to get even. Hubin, pp. 119-120.
VANITY ROW.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Politics and big city corruption. The final volume in what some consider his "urban trilogy" about the slow decline and decay of the American city, preceded by THE ASPHALT JUNGLE and LITTLE MEN, BIG WORLD. Filmed in 1956 as "Accused of Murder." Hubin, pp. 119-120.
ROMAN SHADOWS.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Sequel to Roman Nights.
THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT
Kansas City, Missouri: House of Greystoke, 1965. cover art by Frank Frazetta, original mustard pictorial wrappers. First edition. First published as a 4-part serial in ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY, 8 October 1921 through 29 October 1921. The text here is reproduced from the ARGOSY magazine text. Zeuschner 116.
THE GIRL FROM HOLLYWOOD ...
New York: The Macaulay Company, [1923]. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 9-320 [note: first leaf is a blank], inserted frontispiece with illustration by P. J. Monahan, original pictorial coarse mesh weave red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in yellow-green. First edition, first printing. Bound in coarse mesh weave red cloth lettered in yellow-green; sheets quadruple sewn; the frontispiece caption reads, "The Director's eyes snapped.... 'Only a camera man/and myself are here' he said." Currey, p. 88 (printing A, binding A). Heins GH (not recording this binding).
THE MUCKER ...
Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1921. Octavo, pp. [1-10] 1-414 [415-417: ads] [418-422: blank] [note: last two leaves are blanks], five plates with illustrations by J. Allen St. John, original sea-green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in brown. First edition, first printing of the full text. Adventure novel with short lost race sequence. Total of 17,000 copies printed. There were multiple printings, probably two, last dated 1922. The first part of this novel was published a few weeks earlier in Britain. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 330. Bleiler (1978), p. 35. Reginald 02301. Heins M-1.